Self-sustaining collapsible building structure



Nov. 1, 1966 L. HONOLD ETAL 3,281,998

SELF-SUSTAINING COLLAPSIBLE BUILDING STRUCTURE Original Filed Jan. 24, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 a \k a? A A v A V I Nov. 1, 1966 L. HONOLD ETAL. 3,281,998

SELFSUSTAINING COLLAPSIBLE BUILDING STRUCTURE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 1, 1966 L. HONOLD ETAL 3,

SELF-SUSTAINING COLLAPSIBLE BUILDING STRUCTURE Original Filed Jan. 24. 1962 I iNVENTORS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Nov. 1, 1966 L. HONOLD ETAL 3,231,993

SELF-SUSTAINING COLLAPSIBLE BUILDING STRUCTURE Original Filed Jan. 24, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVEN Lwdw' SELF-SUSTAINING COLLAPSIBLE BUILDING STRUCTURE Original Filed Jan. 24, 1962 Nov. 1, 1966 L. HONOLD ETAL 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent Claims. (Cl. 52-66) This application is a division of our application Serial No. 168,376, filed January 24, 1962, for Housing and copending with application Serial No. 429,549, filed February 1, 1965, for Roof Vent Construction.

The present invention relates to housings, particularly of the character which are suitable to house machinery and equipment, but permissibly also to housings which are intended to provide special buildings, huts or the like. The invention is directed particularly to the building structure.

A purpose of the invention is to produce a housing which will be very readily transferred in compact form to a site for erection.

A further purpose is to provide a housing which will permit ready access to any part of the structure, as for example for servicing machinery or equipment, or for performing scientific observations or the like.

A further purpose is to hingedly connect the roof structure with the side Walls, so that individual elements can be supplied with hinged connection but suitably folded.

A further purpose is to provide a removable corner at the roof of a housing so that the corner can be separated to permit pivoting of the roof and the side wall.

A further purpose is to increase the structural strength and the resistance to windage of a housing.

A further purpose is to provide better corrosion resistance for a housing for machinery and equipment with due allowance for different types of corrosion which may be encountered in different parts of the world.

A further purpose is to permit the side walls and also the roof elements of a housing to snap together.

Further purposes appear in the specification and in the claims.

In the drawings we have chosen to illustrate a few only of the numerou embodiments in which our invention may appear, selecting the forms shown from the standpoints of convenience in illustration, satisfactory operation and clear demonstration of the principles involved.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective of the completed housing of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary section of FIG- URE 1 on the line 2-2.

FIGURE 3 i a section of FIGURE 2 on the line 33 looking from the inside toward the side wall.

FIGURE 3a is a fragmentary section on the line 311-301 of FIGURE 2 showing one snap-in extrusion with the related structural flange partly broken away.

FIGURE 4 is a section on the line 44 of FIGURE 2 showing the corner construction looking diagonally outwardly and upwardly.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary section on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 1 showing the peak of the roof.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary section on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 7 is a bottom plan view of FIGURE 5 showing the roof.

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary top plan view of the roof structure below the ventilator cover, illustrating a single extrusion.

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FIGURE 9 is a section of FIGURE 8 on the line 9-9.

FIGURE 10 is a section on the line 1il10 of FIGURE 1 partially broken away.

FIGURE 11 is an enlarged fragmentary section of FIGURE 10 on the line 11-11.

FIGURE 11a is an enlarged fragment of FIGURE 11 showing the insertion of the snap-in extrusions.

FIGURE 12 is a fragmentary central longitudinal section through the shipping container, showing the parts themselves in elevation.

FIG-URE 13 is an enlarged fragmentary section on the line 1313 of FIGURE 1, showing the header construction for the end access opening.

FIGURE 14 is an enlarged fragmentary section on the line 14-14 of FIGURE 1, showing the construction of the door header and sill.

FIGURE 15 is a section on the line 1515 of FIGURE 1.

Describing in illustration but not in limitation and referring to the drawings:

There is considerable need for a housing which can be shipped in folded or knocked down condition to any part of the world, including the Arctic, or Antarctic and also including remote and inaccessible locations, for covering and protecting machinery and equipment such as turbines, engines, generators, radar equipment, scientific measuring equipment and the like. The housing of the invention lends itself to such service, both in cases of military installations; also for scientific expeditions, and in some cases for normal civilian uses.

One of the great advantages of the housing of the invention is that the elements are themselves relatively light, and also are not bulky. They can be shipped or transferred or hand carried to the site and installed readily with a minimum of tools.

One great advantage of the device of the invention is that it permits ready access to any part of the installation, for the purpose of servicing or testing or making of measurements or observations. Thus the sidewalls can be opened up and removed at any place and the roof can be opened up and removed at any point. Another great advantage of the device of the invention is that it lends itself particularly to moving to another site by disassembly, or adding additional panels to lengthen the structure, or removal of panels to shorten the structure, so that the housing can be changed to fit the changed condition of the equipment or of the machinery.

The stnucture is primarily of aluminum alloy, and is designed to resist the elements and has very high resistance to corrosion in various environments. The structure also is designed to withstand adverse conditions, which may be encountered, for example, in the Arctic and Antarctic, such as winds of miles per hour, and various atmospheric conditions, such as snow, sleet, ice and i all.

As explained more in detail later, individual components are hingedly connected in some cases so that they can be readily folded and handled as a unit.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the housing of the invention consists of footings 40 on which are supported sidewalls 41, end walls 42, a roof 43 and ventilating assemblies 44.

Each of the footings suitably comprises a concrete wall 45 which has embedded therein a metallic anchor-age, suitably a steel angle 46 (FIGURE 2) which has one flange exposed at the top of the footings, and which has vertical openings distributed along its length beneath which metallic, suitably steel nuts 47, are welded, there being ample room provided in the concrete beneath the nuts to receive the anchorage bolts.

In order to'insulate the angle 46 of the footing from the metallic structure of the housing and thus protect against electrolytic corrosion, an insulating strip 48 suitably of nylon or polyvinyl chloride is provided extending .along the top of the footing.

The side wall 41 is made up of several suitably independent panels 50, which as later explained are capable of being removed independently from the housing to permit access to the machinery or equipment inside the housing.

Extending along the bottom of each panel 50, and best seen in FIGURE 2, is a foot extrusion 51 which has a web 52 resting on the insulating layer 48, has a downwardly extending skirt flange 53 at the outside, has a forwardly extending from flange 54 which defines the outside of the side wall at the bottom, has an inwardly limiting flange 55 extending upward and holding the panel extrusions and has an interior upwardly extending flange 56 which limits the beam flanges. This foot plate 51, in common with all of the other components being referred to '(except Where otherwise indicated) will suitably be of aluminum base alloy with suitable cor- Iosion protection as required. The foot plate is suitably .coterminus with each panel.

The body of the panel 50 above the foot plate 51 consists of a series of snap-in extrusions 57, each of which consists of a web 58 at the outside, a flange 60 at one end having an inwardly turned flange portion 61, and a slightly longer flange 62 at the other end having an outwardly turned flange portion 63. Beyond the flange 62 the web has a male snap-in extension 64 suitably pointed at the outer edge which is adapted to be received into a female snap-in socket 65 at the side adjoining the flange 60 of the next extrusion. The outwardly extending flange portion 63 extends toward the inside of the housing with respect to the flange portion 61 of the next extrusion and has outwardly extending snap-in projection 66 which engages the end or the edge of the flange portion 61. As initially formed and best seen in FIGURE 11a, the flange portion 61 is not parallel to the web 58 but diverges slightly from it so that when the female snap-in socket 65 receives the male snap-in extension 64 and a rocking motion takes place, the flange portion 61 elastically deflects and snaps in behind the recess of the projection 66 on the flange portion 63 to the position shown in dot-dash lines in FIGURE 11a. Thus it is possible to build up a succession of extrusions 58 to form the body of the panel 50.

At suitable positions along the web 58 the web is provided with inwardly extending stiffening ribs 67, only one of which is shown on each extrusion.

At the lower end each extrusion -7 is positioned between the flanges 54 and 55 of the foot plate 51 as best shown in FIGURE 10, with the flanges 54 and 55 fastened as by riveting to the flanges 61 and 63, suitable rivets being shown in FIGURE 2 at 68 and 70.

At the top of each panel, the extrusions 57 are received by horizontally extending header extrusions 71 best seen in FIGURES 2, 3 and 10. The header extrusions 71 involve downwardly extending outside flanges 72 which are outside the relatively vertical extrusions 57, downwardly extending inner flanges 73 which are inside the relatively vertical extrusions 57, upwardly extending flanges 74 which are set in enough from the outside to provide recess 75, upwardly extending inner flanges 76, and a web 77 which tends to trap any water and carry it endwise of the panel.

The flanges 72 and 73 are secured to the upwardly extending extrusions 57 by rivets 78 and 80 (FIGURE 2).

At the end of each panel 50, special extrusions are employed which provide a strengthening beam. The strengthening beam extrusion, as best seen in FIGURES 2, 3 and 3a, is exactly like the other generally vertical extrusions 57 as shown best in FIGURE 11, except that the strengthening rib is extended to a much deeper rib l 67 which has at its inner end a flange 67 which extends in the same direction as the portion flange 63. Thus there is relatively great depth of section to the strengthened extrusion.

The flange 67 is suitably secured to the inner upstanding flange 56 of the foot plate 51 as by bolts 81 (FIGURE 2). At the top the end extrusions 57 have their ribs 67 and flanges 67 suitably beveled at 82 so as not to interfere with parts of the roof structure. Also the rib 67' is notched to pass the flange 73 of header extrusion 71, and the flange 73 is secured at this point by riveted brackets 73 The endmost extrusions of each panel which have the deep flange 67 near the top interconnect suitably by bolts 83 with diagonal upwardly and inwardly extending angle plates 84, best seen in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4. The angle plates near their upper and inner plates have pivot openings 85 and 86 which are to cooperate with corresponding angle plates from the roof as later explained.

Near the bottom of the flange portions 67 are secured angles 87 by bolts 88 best seen in FIGURES 2 and 3, and the angles rest upon the webs 52 of the foot plates 51 and have openings through which bolts 90 extend through corresponding openings through webs in the foot plates and through the insulation layer 48 into the nuts 47. To protect against electrolytic corrosion since the structure of the walls and roof will suitably be of aluminum base alloys, the bolts 90 will, to great advantage, be insulated from the side wall structure and/or will suitably be of corrosion resisting alloy such as stainless steel.

At suitable intermediate points along the height of the panels the endmost extrusions have angles 91 fastened to the flanges 67 as by bolts 92, the angles being on the opposite edges of the panels. The angles have outstanding flanges which overlap as shown in FIGURE 3 and receive bolts 93 which laterally interconnect each panel to the next panel.

The end walls have panels which are constructed similar to the side walls, with plates similar to the foot plate 51 at the bottom and plates similar to the header plate 71 at the top.

The side walls 41 are suitably connected to the end walls 42 as shown in FIGURE 26. An end extrusion 57 is similar to extrusion 57 except stiffening rib 67 is extended to form a connecting rib 69. Connecting rib 69 is suitably bolted to end connecting extrusion 69 at 69 An end finish plate 69 consists of a snap-in section 69 similar to that of snap-in extrusion 57 and a U-section 69 having an outwardly extending flange 69 bolted to end connecting extrusion 69' and connecting rib 69 at 69 As best seen in FIGURES l and 13, each end of the housing has an access opening 94, which may be closed by a suitable door if desired. At the top and sides a channel 95 provides a frame which has on the side toward the panel an extrusion 96 whose web 97 rests against the web of the channel 95 and is secured thereto in any suitable manner, as by bolts not shown. The extrusion 96 has an outer flange 98 extending away from the channel 95 and an outer flange 100 extending toward channel 95, and has an inner flange 101 extending away from the channel 95. The channels 98 and 101 extend respectively outside and inside the extrusions 57 which are fastened thereto by rivets 68 and 70. The channel 95 is reinforced at the inside of the structure by a channel 102 in back-to-back relation and secured as by suitable bolts not shown.

At intervals suitably on either side of the end walls 42, there are provided doors 103 and at suitable places in the side walls there are provided doors 104. As best seen in FIGURE 14, a door header 105 extends along the top and sides of the door opening and includes a web 106 which has an outside flange 107 and an inside flange 108 which receive the wall extrusions 57 and are fastened thereto by suitable rivets 68 and 70. The header 105 has at the side toward the door frame an outside flange 110 and an inside flange 111 which receive suitable door frame members 112 suitably secured, as by bolts not shown, to the headers. At the bottom position corresponding to the sill the header is reversed and connects with extrusions 57 which, at the bottom, are received by a special foot plate 51 having an outside upstanding flange 54, an outside downwardly extending flange 53 and an inside upwardly extending flange 55'. The flanges 54 and 55 are suitably connected as by riveting to the upright extrusions 57. The special door footplate is conveniently made as by welding the bottom flange of an angle 113 to the flange of an angle 114 at 115.

The roof construction is best shown by FIGURES 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8.

Large panels 116 correspond in width to the side panels and are made of the same extrusions 57 forming the body of the roof panels and the same extrusions 57 at the sides of the roof panels. At the ends toward the outside, extrusions 71 are used as already described and the ends of the extrusions 57 extend into and are fastened as by rivets outside and into flanges 72 and 73.

At the ends toward the center or peak of the roof as shown in FIGURE 5 the extrusions 57 are secured and riveted outside and into flanges 72 and 73 of extrusions 71 as best seen in FIGURES 5 and 6.

At the ends of each panel of the roof an extrusion 57' is used having the deep flange 67', and near the outer ends the flanges 67 are secured as by bolts 117 to angle plates 118. The angle plates 118 extend outwardly and downwardly and overlap the angle plates 84 from the side panels and have openings 120 and 121 which line up with the openings 85 and 86 respectively in the angle plates 84 from the sidewall panels.

The cooperating openings 85, 120 and 86, 121 of the corner plates receive pivot bolts 122 and 122 respectively which are surrounded by a spacer tubing 123 and receive at the outer ends spacer washers 124' and nuts 125. Normally the bolt 122 in the innermost openings 86 and 121 will be left in place as a hinge pin to interconnect the roof panel with the corresponding side wall panel, during shipping, but when the structure is erected the second bolts 122' is inserted at each end. If, on the other hand, it is desired to hold the roof section up and pivot the side wall section outwardly this can be accomplished by removing the pivot bolt 122 from the inner cooperating openings 86, 121 and pivot around the outer bolt 122, having removed the corner piece to be described.

A suitable arcuate corner piece 123 (FIGURE 2) extends between the plates 71 on the adjoining ends of the side wall panel and the corresponding roof panel. The corner piece 123 has suitably inner strengthening ribs 124 extending along intermediate points and short of the outer ends has deep inner ribs 125 which have suitable openings 126 at intervals which receive hook ends 127 of hook bolts 128 which pass through openings of the flanges 76 and are tightened by nuts 130 to hold the corner plate in position.

As best seen in FIGURE 10, suitable caulking at 131 is provided between the corner plates and the roof and side wall panels.

At the peak as best seen in FIGURES 5 and 7 the deep flange portions 67' of the endmost extrusions of the roof panels have bolted thereto at 132 bridging channels 133 extending to the opposite roof panel. Cutouts are provided at 134 in the lower portions of the extrusions 71 as best seen in FIGURES 5 and 7 for permitting the channels 133 to extend across. Angles 135 are connected by bolts 136 to the channels 133 and these angles connect by bolts 137 to the extrusions 71 so as to connect the ends of the extrusions 71 to channels 133.

A crown plate 138 bridges the space between the extrusions 71 at the center of the roof and has a central inner rib 140 which has openings 141 which receive the hooks 142 of hook bolts 143 which at the bottom pass down through openings in washers 144 against the extru- 6 sions 71 and are secured by nuts 145. Suitable caulking will be provided at 146 where the crown plate engages the extrusions 71 as desired.

At a central point in each of the oppositely sloping roof panels of a pair, it is desirable to locate a ventilator. Openings 146 are suitably punched in the webs of the extrusions forming the roof beneath the ventilator as best seen in FIGURES 8 and 9.

FIGURE 12 illustrates a packing crate 214 to receive the components of one complete set of panels. There are shown roof sections 215 having ventilator collars 216, with the covers detached, pivotally connected in the manner previously described to side panels 217, the side panels being folded in on the roof panels. Suitable blocking 218 supports the combination of roof and side panels in the crate and a separate box construction 220 holds ventilator covers 221 as shown. It is thus possible to pack all of the components for four combinations of side panels, :roof panels and ventilator assemblies in one crate.

In operation, the crate is disassembled and the combination of side and roof panels are opened to the correct position and the additional pivot bolts inserted to hold the construction in the desired shape. The uni-ts are then simply mounted end to end on the footings and bolted to the footings and also bolted to one another. the corner plates 123 are inserted and fastened into place and suitable caulking may be applied between one set of panels and the next as desired. The ventilating covers are then applied and finally the end panels are put in place.

In order to gain access to one part of the housing interior it is merely necessary to remove the crown plate and insert the hook of a crane and lift the combination of roof and side sections or if desired, a corner plate can be removed and using the crane to hold the large roof section, the pivot can be taken out and the corresponding side section released at the bottom and swing outwardly.

Entire sections can also be removed, if desired.

New sections can readily be added to enlarge the building.

In view of our invention and disclosure variations and modifications to meet individual whim or particular need will doubtless become evident to others skilled in the art to obtain all or part of the benefits of our invention without copying the structure shown, and we, therefore, claim all such insofar as they fall within the reasonable spirit and scope of our claims.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a building construction comprising a pair of opposed side panels and a pair of opposed roof panels, wherein the panels are composed of a plurality of metallic extrusions arranged side by side and having snap-in interlock connections with one another, the extrusions having webs on one side forming a continuous outer surface for the panels, the other side having strengthening flanges intergal therewith extending inwardly from the web, a connection between the roof panels disposing them at a pitch oppositely inclined to the horizontal and pivotal connecting means attached between a strengthening flange of the side panels and a strengthening flange of an adjoining roof panel disposing the side walls generally vertically, said pivoted connecting means allowing the wall panel to swing into a position generally conforming to the roof panels so as to form a compact self-contained shipping unit which can be readily erected at a building site to form a self-sustaining building structure.

2. In a building construction according to claim 1, wherein the wall panels are inclined outwardly with respect to the vertical at the bottom and slope inwardly toward the top when the building is erected.

3. A building construction according to claim 1, wherein said pivotal connecting means includes two pivotal connections, one of said pivotable connections being removable, the other acting as the pivot permitting the Then wall panel to swing into a position generally conforming to the roof panel for compact shipment.

4. In a building construction according to claim 1, wherein the pivotal connecting means between the wall panels and each roof panel includes a pair of cooperating overlapping plates, one extending from a strengthening flange of the wall panel and the other extending from a strengthening flange of the roof panel, the plates adjoining at each end, and a pairof pivotal connections between said plates, one of the pivotal connections being removable so as to permit the wall panels to fold into a position conforming to the roof panels for compact shipment.

5. In a building cnstruction according to claim 4, including cooperating apertures in the ends of the overlapping plates forming two openings through which are inserted removable pivot pins to form the pair of pivotal connections between the roof and wall panels.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,350,904 6/1944 King 52-64 2,592,610 4/1952 Shurnaker 5260 10 2,765,499 10/1956 Couse 52--66 FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

R. S. VERMUT, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A BUILDING CONSTRUCTION COMPRISING A PAIR OF OPPOSED SIDE PANELS AND A PAIR OF OPPOSED ROOF PANELS, WHEREIN THE PANELS ARE COMPOSED OF A PLURALITY OF METALLIC EXTRUSIONS ARRANGED SIDE BY SIDE AND HAVING SNAP-IN INTERLOCK CONNECTIONS WITH ONE ANOTHER, THE EXTRUSIONS HAVING WEBS ON ONE SIDE FORMING A CONTINUOUS OUTER SURFACE FOR THE PANELS, THE OTHER SIDE HAVING STRENGTHENING FLANGES INTEGRAL THEREWITH EXTENDING INWARDLY FROM THE WEB, A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE ROOF PANELS DISPOSING THEM AT A PITCH OPPOSITELY INCLINED TO THE HORIZONTAL AND PIVOTAL CONNECTING MEANS ATTACHED BETWEEN A STRENGTHENING FLANGE OF THE SIDE PANELS AND A STRENGTHENING FLANGE OF AN ADJOINING ROOF PANEL DISPOSING THE SIDE WALLS GENERALLY VERTICALLY, SAID PIVOTED CONNECTING MEANS ALLOWING THE WALL PANEL TO SWING INTO A POSITION GENERALLY CONFORMING TO THE ROOF PANELS SO AS TO FORM A COMPACT SELF-CONTAINED SHIPPING UNIT WHICH CAN BE READILY ERECTED AT A BUILDING SITE TO FORM A SELF-SUSTAINING BUILDING STRUCTURE. 